Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders is a prominent Dutch politician known for his strong anti-Islam rhetoric and nationalist views. Born in 1963 in Venlo, Netherlands, Wilders was raised in a Roman Catholic family but later distanced himself from religious affiliations. He entered politics in the late 1990s, initially aligning with the Dutch People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) before founding his own party, the Party for Freedom (PVV), in 2006. Wilders has gained notoriety for advocating a halt to immigration from Muslim countries and calling for a ban on the Koran, which he controversially compared to Mein Kampf.
Despite his polarizing views, Wilders has significantly influenced Dutch political discourse, contributing to a shift towards the political right. He ran for prime minister in 2017 but was unsuccessful; however, his party's anti-immigration stance resonated with many voters. In the 2023 parliamentary elections, the PVV emerged as the largest party, reflecting growing public dissatisfaction with immigration policies. Wilders' political career has sparked debates about tolerance, religious freedom, and the integration of immigrants in the Netherlands, creating a notable divide in public opinion. His personal life includes his marriage to Krisztina Marfai, a Hungarian diplomat, and together they have faced significant security concerns due to threats related to his political stance.
Geert Wilders
Politician
- Born: September 6, 1963
- Place of Birth: Venlo, the Netherlands
Significance: Geert Wilders is a Dutch politician who is best known for his negative rhetoric about Islam. Wilders' critics call him a xenophobe; he called for the ending of immigration to the Netherlands from Muslim countries and he has a disdain for immigrants in general. Wilders ran an unsuccessful bid for prime minister of the Netherlands in 2017, yet he and his party helped shift politics in the country to the right after the election.
Background
Geert Wilders was born in the eastern city of Venlo, in the Netherlands, in 1963. He was raised Roman Catholic but had no religious affiliation as an adult. He was the youngest of four siblings. His father worked at a printing company. His mother was half Indonesian, but Wilders tried to distance himself from this part of his heritage as an adult. Wilders would also have a strained relationship with some of his family members as an adult because of his extreme political views. Wilders did not attend a university, and he worked for a health insurer as one of his first jobs. He also worked in a kibbutz in Israel as a young man. Wilders found his true calling in politics, however, and he became a member of the Dutch People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in the late 1980s.
Life's Work
Wilders ran for office for the first time in the late 1990s. He ran to be a city councillor in the city of Utrecht in 1997 and won. Wilders also worked as an assistant for Frits Bolkestein, who was the head of the VVD. Bolkestein railed against the European Union (EU) and multiculturalism, and his beliefs helped shape Wilders' views. The next year, Wilders led a successful bid to become a member of the Dutch national parliament. Wilders wanted to have a serious career in politics. He took media training classes, and he even started dying his hair a platinum blond color.
Wilders had developed views against multiculturalism early in his career. However, events in the 2000s caused him to develop even more extreme views about Islam and immigrants. The Netherlands had been home to many Muslim immigrants since the 1960s and 1970s. After the terrorist attacks in America in September of 2001, some Dutch citizens became concerned about Muslims living in their own country. Wilders took advantage of this feeling and started openly discussing a disdain for immigrants.
In 2004, a Dutch filmmaker named Theo Van Gogh was attacked and murdered by militant Muslims who wanted to kill him because of his work denouncing Islam. Law enforcement believed that Wilders, who was another prominent opponent of Islam, could be attacked next. So Wilders and his wife were guarded and isolated to keep them safe from potential attackers. Since that time, Wilders and his wife have been under guarded protection, and they have to be driven in bulletproof vehicles. al-Qaeda and other groups put bounties on Wilders' head. Wilders also had to stop traveling around the world as he enjoyed.
Wilders was greatly influenced by his time in seclusion, and it only reinforced his negative beliefs about Islam. Wilders moved even more to the political right. He broke with his own political party over its support of allowing Turkey in the EU. Wilders created his own political party, called the Party for Freedom (PVV), in February of 2006 after leaving the VVD. The PVV was virulently anti-Islam. Its other policy goals were mainly libertarian. Many Dutch people felt that Wilders' open disdain for Islam went against values that the people of the Netherlands held for hundreds of years. The Netherlands has a history of religious tolerance and sheltering those, such as Jewish individuals, who faced religious intolerance elsewhere. Yet, his PVV party gained popularity. In 2010 Wilders was put on trial for inciting hatred against Muslims, but he was acquitted.
From 2015 to 2017, a wave of nationalism seemed to hit many European countries and the United States. In 2016, Great Britain voted to leave the European Union. That same year, the United States elected Donald Trump, who was a nationalist who wanted to limit immigration and had called for a ban on Muslim immigrants during his presidential campaign. Wilders then ran to be prime minister in the Netherlands, and his party seemed to be tied with the incumbent political party only months before the race. Nevertheless, Wilders and his party lost the election. Some people believe that President Trump's actions, such as a ban on immigrants from some majority Muslim countries, in the United States caused people to lose support for Wilders, who became known as the Donald Trump of the Netherlands. Even though Wilders and his party did not take power over the government, they still had a seat in parliament and caused the Netherlands to move in a more nationalistic direction.
Impact
Wilders' anti-immigration PVV political party has become more powerful in the Netherlands since the mid-2000s. Wilders' own beliefs and comments about Islam have also shape Dutch discourse about religion and Islam. In addition to calling for ending immigration from Muslim countries, Wilders also wanted to put further restrictions on Muslims by banning the Koran, which is the religion's holy text. Wilders compared the book to Mein Kampf, which is Adolf Hitler's autobiography and political manifesto. He also called for a ban on the head scarves that many Muslim women wear. Wilders' political career has helped to intensify a divide in the Netherlands between those who support tolerance and religious freedom and those who want to limit or even eradicate Islam in the country. Furthermore, the support of his beliefs has caused some other politicians to adopt their own anti-immigrant messages. During the 2017 campaign, the Dutch prime minister and one of Wilders' rivals, Mark Rutte, published a letter in which he explained that immigrants to the Netherlands should assimilate into the culture of the country or leave.
In 2023, amid growing dissatisfaction with the country's immigration policies, Rutte announced he would retire at the conclusion of his term in office. In those elections, held November 23, 2023, immigration remained the main issue. Wilders and his Partij voor de Vrijheid, or Party for Freedom, known as the PVV, were unexpectedly successful. They won thirty-seven seats in the Dutch Parliament and became the largest party in the House of Representatives. In early 2024, Wilders' PVV party and three others agreed to form a coalition government. The new government continued to take a hard anti-immigration stand. In September 2024, they asked to opt out of the European Union's policies on accepting immigrants. Government officials said that the volume of immigrants the country was required to accept interfered with their ability to provide for the needs of their own citizens.
Personal Life
Wilders married his wife, Krisztina Marfai, in 1992. She was born in Hungary, and she worked as a diplomat in the Netherlands.
Bibliography
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Quell, Molly and Raf Casert. "Dutch government Led by Hard Right Asks for Formal Opt-Out from EU Migration Rules." Associated Press, 18 Sept. 2024, apnews.com/article/eu-migration-netherlands-wilders-far-right-50085da4973432a115677afbd34c100d. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.
Ross, Winston. "Geert Wilders: The 'Prophet' Who Hates Muhammad." Newsweek, 19 Jan. 2015, www.newsweek.com/2015/01/30/geert-wilders-prophet-who-hates-muhammad-300266.html. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.
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